Computers Are Like Children

 Arun Kumar

 

We live in the era of computers. There is an entire generation of children and young adults that have not seen a world without them. They also cannot comprehend brick and mortar video rental stores. I know, they existed.

World evolves.

15-years back, I used to own a desktop and a laptop. Between them, they constantly sought attention. Various aspects of needing to manage, and to make them function properly, sometimes made me think about the experience of raising children.

The journey of owning a computer started with bringing a new one home. After unpacking, I would place it on the table, step back and admire its shape and fresh out of box "baby" smell. After a few moments of admiration and reveling in the warmth of having a new companion, the journey of raising, teaching, and managing emergencies began.

Everything plugged, and when the index finger reached forward and hit the start button, a low humming of the hard drive spinning up followed. The first breath and we looked forward to many many years of being together.

After a few minutes of hiccuping and steadying the breath, words started popping up on the blue screen. Welcome to Windows. Your eyes to the world beyond, it seemed to whisper.

I was asked to choose a language it will speak; pick a time zone that it will live in.

Getting initiated next required giving it a name. What should I call it? Something mundane like Home-Laptop? Or should I name it after some forgotten love? Or invent something mysterious or esoteric?

Picking up a name required some thought. After all, down the road, we will be on the first name basis. I picked BlueSky.

Few days of saying hellos and getting introduced, exploring through various software that BlueSky came preinstalled, the process of expanding BlueSky's brain and capabilities began. First and foremost, I got BlueSky inoculated with a virus protection. Gave BlueSky a password so strangers cannot intrude on our privacy. I got BlueSky connected with the external world via the wireless.

To BlueSky's whirring and curious brain, I introduced Firefox, Thunderbird, a pdf reader and continued to expand its horizon and capabilities and bring it to a point where we could have creative conversations.

 And slowly time passed, and we started to develop a level of comfort with each other, learn each others quirks. Once a while, BlueSky will throw a tantrum, become forlorn and stop responding. In those moments, I had to reach out to make sure all elements were healthy, let it sleep for a while, and later, wake it up from its well-deserved rest.

But most of the time, BlueSky was a happy, and a content companion.

Many years have gone by, and we have developed comfort being around each other. Only occasionally, I need to give BlueSky booster shots of upgrades or enhance its capabilities, but otherwise, BlueSky, from its humble beginnings, developed into a youthful responsible adult.

Getting a computer, and taking a journey together, is not that different from raising a child.